Yamba joins locals for Tidy Towns Family Day

Thursday 29 June looks set to be a big day in the Santa Teresa social calendar. Yamba the Honeyant’s new roadshow featuring songs to teach children and their parents about recycling and the health benefits of a tidy town will be launched at a Family Day in the community.

The new Yamba Tidy Towns Roadshow is sponsored by MacDonnell Regional Council and will visit each of its 13 remote communities over the coming weeks. The idea of engaging Yamba to help people learn ways to keep their community clean and healthy came from Santa Teresa, so its the obvious community to start the Council-wide roadshow.

As a Tidy Towns Roadshow, Yamba’s popular show has some new songs for children to learn and help them think about their community becoming a healthier place to live and play. One song reminds them that their country, animals and everyone is healthier by asking:

So what do we do to do the right thing?

We put our rubbish, our rubbish, our rubbish in the bin

Other parts of the show warn that rubbish can make you sick and that refilling your water bottle makes less rubbish, while the “Recycle Rap” is a funky way to help everyone identify and use the yellow recycling bins.

MacDonnell Regional Council has established itself as a leader in the annual Keep Australia Beautiful Tidy Towns competition. This latest initiative focusses on to the health benefits that come from keeping the community clean.

“ Before the Council, we used to burn our rubbish in drums in the street and I remember playing in old car wrecks laying around the community. Now the Council do regular rubbish collections and have taken the old cars to the dump to keep the little children safe,” Civil Works Assistant Darren Wilyuka said.

Yamba will not be the only special guest at the Tidy Town Family Day. Milpa the Trachoma Goanna will join Yamba after the show to help everyone reduce their risk of eye infection by washing their eyes, hands and faces.

Milpa has become a mascot for healthy eyes and good health across the Northern Territory and will also help all to understand better health, including eye health, comes from a tidy community. This is a critical message as trachoma has been reduced across the country and now only exists in our remote desert communities.

The basketball courts in Santa Teresa’s Recreation Hall will be the venue for the launch of Yamba’s Tidy Towns Roadshow. A fair-like atmosphere outside the hall is expected as the community gathers for the performance and following barbeque lunch. Organisations working in the community will have stalls showcasing their programs, while performers from the local BaBoom drumming workshops will warm up the crowd. Later a jumping castle for the children and the Eastern Reggae Band will ensure the excitement of the day continues.

Councillors of the MacDonnell Regional Council will join the Tidy Town Family Day as they break from preparing for their Council meeting the following day. The Council meeting on Friday at 10.30am in the Santa Teresa Council Office will be their last before the Northern Territory Local Government elections in August.

MacDonnell Regional Council Civil Works team will run the barbeque while staff from Council’s Night Patrol, MacKids and MacYouth will represent their services. Organisations holding stalls at the Family Day include CatholicCare NT, Waltja, Ltyentye Apurte Catholic School, NT Police, Atyenhenge-Atherre Aboriginal Corporation, NT Health’s Environmental Health Central Australia and Centre for Disease Control.